Project
The water-energy-food nexus in governing large-scale irrigation schemes in Uganda (PhD project - Nishai Moodley)
This project is about governing the sustainable development of water, food and energy (WEF) resources in Uganda. It explores the case of large-scale irrigation schemes, where decision-making and coordination processes among development actors, such as international donors, national departments, and local households, are responsible for the implementation of sustainable development goals. Irrigation development can alleviate some of Uganda’s challenges, such as vulnerability to climate threats, public health illnesses, and high poverty and malnutrition. However, the fragmented policy environment can cause unintentional consequences of SDG interventions, because of the decentralised decision-making centres, and contrasting priorities and interests, across different sectors and levels of global, national, and local governance. This study aims to understand the coordination processes between donors and departments who are involved in the irrigation schemes, and how this (lack thereof) coordination directly affects the access to WEF-related resources in local households, living within or near the scheme. These WEF-SDGs consider the synergetic and trade-off relationships among SDG 6 (clean freshwater access), SDG 2 (food security) and SDG 7 (affordable energy). A polycentric governance framework is used to understand the coordination (and lack thereof) among actors behind SDG 6 implementation, in the context of large-scale irrigation schemes. For this research, three large-scale irrigation schemes are selected in the Eastern, Western and Northern districts of Uganda. Methodology includes observations, interviews, and document analysis. After understanding the global-to-local coordination processes of SDG 6 in large-scale irrigation schemes, this study will produce recommendations for improved governance and coordination of WEF-related resources in Uganda.
Uganda has one the highest irrigation potential in the world because of abundant freshwater resources, such as wetlands, swamps, rivers and lakes. However, only 1.3% of its agricultural land area is irrigated. The agricultural sector employs 66% of Uganda’s population and contributes to a quarter to the national Gross Domestic Profit. Therefore, irrigation development is thus essential is increasing agricultural productivity and mitigating climate change-related impacts such as water scarcity, unpredictable rainfall, prolonged drought, stress levels of freshwater resources, including the degradation to its ecosystem and biodiversity. This is a starting point for studying SDG 6 on water and sanitation due to the need of increasing water use efficiency and the sustainable withdrawals of freshwater resources. This interest extends to improving household security and agricultural productivity (SDG 2 on zero hunger). Additionally, Uganda relies heavily on fossil fuel consumption in irrigation and the overall agricultural sector, to pump, transport, and store water especially for treatment processes. By harnessing irrigation potential and its ample water resources, synergetic relationships arise through the investment of renewable alternatives, specifically hydropower (SDG 7 on clean affordable energy).